"It Takes a Village..."

‘It Takes a Village’ international conference explores the ways that we strengthen and support families where a family member has a mental illness, a physical illness or substance use issue.  This conference is for policy makers, managers, service users, family members, professionals, educators and researchers across the health, social, educational and cultural sectors.  Key note presentations will be from world leaders in the field.

Families where a parent, or a child has a mental illness, a physical illness or substance use issues may experience a variety of emotional, practical and financial stresses.   However, many of these families do not obtain the support they require.  Working with parents and children in these families is a public health priority that warrants attention at individual, service and population levels.

This international conference will examine the ways in which individual and family recovery and capabilities might be promoted so that the risk of distress is reduced.   Wide ranging, preventative and inter-disciplinary approaches will be presented with applied clinical relevance.  The conference aims to further strengthen the awareness and capacity of ‘the village’, including researchers, educators, families, family members, those with lived experience, policy makers, professionals and leaders, about the need and the opportunities of these families to create a better future.  An emphasis will be on children, youth, parent and family voices, resources and capabilities, and how their experiences might inform practice, systems, policy and legislation.

The three day conference will provide a platform to learn from each other and exchange breakthroughs and advances of the latest knowledge and effective practices.  Save the dates in your diary. 

Conference themes include

• The experiences and hopes of children, youth, parent, and family experiences including but not limited to
  • Grief
  • Stigma and shame
  • Exclusion and connectedness
  • Young carers
  • Families, parent, children and youth  capacities, capabilities, recovery journeys, and potentials
  • Methodologies to engage and elicit the voices of children, youth,  parents and family members

• Change agents at individual, service and population levels.
  • Who they are, what do they do, and how they promote change
    • Programs of peer support
    • Evidence based practices and interventions
    • Quality implementation frameworks

Note that the day after the conference is Norway’s Constitution Day, and is an opportunity to see the famous children’s parade, the Barnetoget.